‘Joe Guinan and Martin O’Neill present a compelling vision of a more just, democratic economy in which wealth and power are more fairly shared. This book should be read by anyone who believes that a different economic order is possible and wants to know how we start to make it happen.’
Ed Miliband, MP for Doncaster North and former Leader of the Labour Party
‘If you want to make the city where you live more equal and more democratic, this is the book for you. It shows what local government, institutions, and people can do to create a better world – even without the support of central government. It is at once both practical and inspiring.’
Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, authors of The Spirit Level and The Inner Level
‘The Case for Community Wealth Building is an essential guide to a new and devolved economic movement that challenges forty years of neoliberalism and austerity. It articulates real progress towards a transformed and democratic economy.’
Councillor Matthew Brown, Leader of Preston City Council
The Case For series
Sam Pizzigati, The Case for a Maximum Wage
Louise Haagh, The Case for Universal Basic Income
James K. Boyce, The Case for Carbon Dividends
Frances Coppola, The Case for People’s Quantitative Easing
Joe Guinan & Martin O’Neill, The Case for Community Wealth Building
The Case for Community Wealth Building
Joe Guinan
Martin O’Neill
polity
Copyright © Joe Guinan and Martin O’Neill 2020
The right of Joe Guinan and Martin O’Neill to be identified as Author of this Work has been asserted in accordance with the UK Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
First published in 2020 by Polity Press
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ISBN-13: 978-1-5095-3904-8
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Dedication
For Patricia Harvey and Elizabeth O’Neill
Preface and Acknowledgements
All politics is local.
Tip O’Neill
People live in particular places and in particular communities, and the politics and economics of those places and communities matter hugely for the quality of their lives. These are basic, inescapable facts of human existence, but facts that are often peculiarly overlooked in discussions of social justice and economic policy. And so this is a book about public policy and the pursuit of social justice – but a book whose focus is very much on the local level.
When national governments are pursuing destructive economic policies, action at the local level can be an essential form of protection. More than that, though, and as we argue in this book, local economic policy can be a way of creating plans and models that prefigure large-scale alternatives. The local can be both a site of resistance and a laboratory for the future, often fulfilling both roles at once.
This book is about the radical potential of ‘local justice’. It is written at a time of rapid political and economic flux, when the future paths of our societies are far from certain. Its focus is necessarily on the United States and United Kingdom, the two political economies we know best and where Community Wealth Building is at its most developed – not coincidentally, also the two advanced industrial economies in which neoliberalism was first unleashed, and where its rot runs deepest. We are well aware that there are important, relevant developments in a host of other countries. But personal experience and the need to set some manageable boundaries on the scope of such a short work suggested a narrow focus on Britain and America.
Even a little book like this incurs huge debts of gratitude. Certainly, our various associations with The Democracy Collaborative – the ‘think-do tank’ based in Washington, DC and Cleveland, Ohio that has been at the forefront of the Community Wealth Building movement in the United States and internationally for two decades – have been formative in our thinking about the development of radical economic alternatives. Joe has been on the staff since 2012, currently serving as Vice President, having previously worked with the Collaborative’s principals for four years at its inception back in the early 2000s. Meanwhile Martin has become very much a friend of the TDC family. We are deeply grateful to the executives, staff (past and present), trustees, fellows, and funders of The Democracy Collaborative for their visionary work and leadership.
Gar Alperovitz is a national treasure – if it is permissible to say such a thing of one who has for so long been engaged in opposing American imperium. His decades-long work for transformative social justice and economic system change has bequeathed an intellectual and political legacy that we are only just beginning to get to grips with, now that a new left political movement is emerging. We salute Gar, and remain confident that his greatest contributions lie just around the corner. Ted Howard is an extraordinary social entrepreneur and leader who helped bring the Cleveland Model into being through sheer persistence and force of will. He is a mentor and friend, and it’s a privilege to work alongside him. Marjorie Kelly is possessed of a rapier-sharp intellect and a lifelong journalistic commitment to pursuit of the true meaning of things. Her new book with Ted, The Making of a Democratic Economy, is a major influence on our thinking. Matthew Brown, principal architect of the Preston Model, is an inspiration; we continue to wish all power to his arm.
At Polity Press, we’re grateful to George Owers for his enthusiastic reaction to the idea for this book, and for his efficiency and good judgement. Polity’s Julia Davies ably assisted in shepherding the book into existence. We’re also grateful to four anonymous referees for their helpful comments on a first draft of the manuscript. All remaining errors are ours alone.
We are also thankful to the many colleagues, friends, and comrades with whom we have been discussing ideas about Community Wealth Building – and the broader agenda